I started this story when I was 16, with inspiration for it coming from my own biology class and another Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic I can't find anymore. Now I have decided to finish it, after editing the existing chapters.

As before, I use English names, as I have only read the first two manga volumes and have only watched the dub and the Abridged Series. So, when I say "Bakura," I mean "Ryou." "Marik" refers to the normal one. The yamis are gone, and Marik and Serenity are now in Yugi's school because reasons (in-story, Joey's mom wanted to be with him again and Marik and his siblings wanted to get out of Egypt to avoid bad memories. Out of story, it's because I love writing the Ishtars in my unpublished works, and needed Serenity so an OC besides modern Kisara doesn't become important.)

Yugi was trying not to get too distracted as his teacher stood up to deliver a message to the students. There was only one month, two weeks and three days left of the school year (not that he'd counted - Tristan had) and the students could almost taste the freedom. Some, like Seto Kaiba, would be graduating, while others were stuck with cramming as much fun as possible into the very limited time slot.

Unfortunately, being so close to summertime brought the students of Domino High to intense drowsiness and daydreaming of the future. So that was probably the reason why the staff decided to dump a new assignment on them all, instead of just those taking biology.

"A simple experiment," the woman said, her gray hair pulled back in a bun and her dark eyes scanning the mass of pink and blue gathered before her, seemingly unaware that some of them were half-asleep already. "You will be partnered up, and we will choose those partners for you, so you don't attempt to turn pretend into reality, and assigned to take care of this."

And she held up an electronic baby doll, drawing the attention of the entire crowd.

"You've got to be kidding me," Seto said, showing a rare expression as he looked up from his laptop to see exactly what she was holding. The expression was stunned, and it was one many others were wearing as well.

Duke, for instance. "What," he said, not even bothering to make it a question.

"A lesson in responsibility is something this school needs," the speaker continued, almost as if she was answering them when they all knew that she didn't care. "Some of you more than others."

"By that, she means Marik and Joey," Tea whispered to Yugi. He nodded once, absently.

"These are educational devices, " the teacher continued. "Not toys. However," she added, a slightly sadistic smile spreading across her face, "you will not be receiving these right away. There will be a week in between when either you or your partner will be..." she paused to make sure she had everyone's attention, "pregnant."

Marik and Joey instantly collapsed in laughter, and several others were doing the same or fighting the impulse to join in. The speaker rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, laugh all you want, but I want the whole experience documented!"

Serenity raised her hand, her cheeks pink from holding in her own laughter. "Will we be expected to 'give birth,' too?" she asked when she had the teacher's attention, and her brother bit down on his sleeve to keep from laughing even harder at the mental image of Tea pulling a fully-dressed baby doll from under her shirt in the middle of class. He didn't even think of Serenity getting stuck with it.

Bakura, in contrast, paled even more than usual and prayed to every god he'd ever heard of that the answer was no. With his luck, he'd end up playing the mother, and he didn't want to give people another reason to pick on him.

His prayers were answered when the speaker pinched the bridge of her nose. "No, the closest thing to it will be picking up your baby at the end of the week. However, you will document what you experience as 'pregnant' teenagers and turn it in when you pick up your children. Tonight's assignment," she finished, "is to tell your parents or legal guardians about the babies, as if they were real, and write down their reactions. I expect you here at the end of the day to meet your partners. Have a good day."

"I'm not going to do it."

That had been exactly what Bakura had thought Marik was going to say, and he had prepared a counter-argument. "You're expected -"

"To be a father?" Marik finished, having a counter-counter of his own prepared. "I don't exactly have a role model, so I'm going to see if I can be excused from this assignment."

"You do have a role model," Bakura disagreed, having expected this very protest. "Odion, remember?"

"He's a brother and a servant. He doesn't count."

Ever since Marik had arrived from Egypt, he and Bakura had become what could only be described as 'best friends,' though that was probably overstating things a bit. Tea referred to it as the 'balance factor' of life. Bakura had a reputation as a figure in the background, while Marik was making up for his lost childhood in high school. As a result of their friendship, Bakura kept Marik out of deep trouble, while Marik pulled Bakura out of the shadows every now and then.

Marik and Bakura just called it the "He's the only one who truly understands what it's like to know your body was taken over by a psychopath" clause.

"Listen, Marik," Bakura said under his breath as the teacher entered, knowing that all conversations would be called out on but feeling a need to make his point. "Not even Seto Kaiba can buy his way out of this. I saw it in her eyes. We're stuck."

Marik huffed as the math tests were passed out. He wondered if his 'friend' status would allow him to copy off Bakura's paper, but decided against it. He was one of the good guys now, he reminded himself. That enforced a strict 'No Cheating' policy.

Still, he couldn't resist taking a peek, and got stabbed with a pencil in response.

He also could have sworn he heard Bakura mutter "Predict that," but that might have been his imagination.

Fifteen minutes before school let out, the students were gathered and were starting to be partnered up. So far, Tristan and Serenity were partners, with Tristan already taunting Duke and Joey about it and having a grand time doing it, Serenity rolling her eyes but not bothering to tell him to stop. Yugi and Tea were partnered up as well, leaving both of them entirely red in embarrassment as they stood together, Yugi looking even smaller than usual, as if he were trying to hide himself. After all, this wasn't a card game or an end-of-the-world scenario. He couldn't defeat this.

Everyone else was waiting for their names to be called, including the new girl near the front of the room.

"Seto Kaiba and...Kisara Byrne."

Seto was pushed out of his seat by Joey, causing him to grumble about having "slimy paw prints" all over his uniform, and slowly made his way down to the front. His partner, this...Kisara, was already there, waiting for him.

Her name was familiar in ways he didn't want to think about, and the pale braid swinging to her hips didn't help at all. Perhaps she had some Egyptian lineage and the name came around again every few generations. Genetics could explain everything...except perhaps how she was an exact mirror.

Or maybe her cheekbones were different, he couldn't tell from here.

He returned to the present, and Kisara was surprised that he'd actually followed her down. She worked around it, and decided to open the conversation when she sensed that he wouldn't.

"Hi." Kisara smiled. Seto was silent, noticing that some of her hair had escaped its twisted prison and made its way into her eyes. "Or not," she added uncertainly, to more silence. "I can be quiet and unresponsive, too, you know. It's not really a talent."

Seto could already tell that the next few weeks were going to be a nightmare. "Don't you have to work on a 'Mom and Dad, I got knocked up by a kid at school' speech?" he asked, and he must have sounded desperate, because Kisara reacted to it as if it were all real.

"Well, if you're going to treat the mother of your child that way..." she folded her arms across her chest, trying to stop the smile that spread across her face. Seto fought the impulse to roll his eyes.

"It's a doll," he hissed, but she was apparently refusing to listen to logic and already planning out their child's personality.

"I'm thinking a boy will be athletic, but not one of those jerk jocks you see on TV," she said casually as they stood in line with the others, Tristan having gone quiet at their arrival. "I'm not an athlete either, but obsessing over trading cards, no matter how fun the game is, can't be healthy in the long run. As for a girl, she'll be a tomboy for the most part, since I'm pretty girly if I say so myself..."

"They aren't alive," Seto said again. "They don't need personalities. They will be two weeks old when we hand them in again."

"But for those two weeks, we're required to treat it as if it were our flesh and blood," Kisara pointed out as they headed out the door together. It seemed that she was walking him to the car that he'd hired to pick him up. Wonderful. "We're going to have a baby, Se...uh, Mr. Kaiba. Even if it is only for a week or two."

And so she spun around, her long hair whipping against him, before skipping down the sidewalk to head home. Seto shook his head slowly.

What were the teachers thinking?

His driver chuckled as Seto got into the car. "May I ask who that girl was?"

Seto didn't even blink. "The mother of my child."

The driver stopped, glancing at his boss in the mirror, and for a moment, Seto was grateful for the awkward silence. Then the driver spoke up again.

"You were right, sir," he said, not seeming to notice the slight shift in Seto's expression. "Your personal life is none of my business."

Seto was proud of being his own legal guardian. That was a privilege most teenagers didn't have. Of course it sucked that he didn't have parents, but he had money and a brother, and that was enough for him.

Still, his teachers had made it clear that he wasn't going to get out of this, so he would have to tell somebody that he'd been forced into becoming a father, and Mokuba was the only option.

"Mokuba, I...need your help with something."

Seto Kaiba never asked for help. He rarely needed it. But Mokuba was used to his brother's human side, and seconds later was being filled in about the situation.

"Let me get this straight," Mokuba said, sounding so grown-up it almost made Seto proud. "This girl is pregnant, you're the father...and it's the school's fault?" He frowned in confusion. "I don't know all the details of where babies come from, but I know enough to know that they don't come from the janitor's closet." He stopped mid-thought, then his entire face wrinkled in disgust. "I guess they CAN, but since we're not in a soap opera, wouldn't someone let the lady out before she gave birth?"

That was an image Seto didn't need to see. He quickly pushed it to the dark corner of his mind where he pushed all horrible things he didn't want to think about. "She's not pregnant. The school decided that since it got cancelled for card games so often, they'd teach us all that we can't go around like our actions don't have consequences." He shuddered. "They threatened to keep me another year if I didn't do this."

"So why didn't you buy your way out?" Mokuba suggested.

"I tried, Mokuba. They wouldn't let me."

"Did you threaten to sue?"

"Of course."

Mokuba grinned at his big brother. "Well, then, it seems like there's only one thing I can say at this point." He stood up and walked casually toward the door, opening it before speaking again. "Good luck, Daddy."

And he ran. Seto counted to three, then chased him down.

And anyone in or near the Kaiba mansion could hear Mokuba's yelp of surprise, as well as his cries of "Stop him! He's got me! He's squeezing the life out of my every limb..."

"Don't be so dramatic, Mokuba," Seto grunted as he dumped his little brother onto his bed. He was almost too heavy for that kind of game. "Get to sleep."

"And what time will you get some sleep, Seto?" Mokuba challenged. "After all, newborn babies cry all night, so you'll need your sleep for when what's-her-name gives birth..."

"Mokuba..." Seto warned.

"Good night!"

Mokuba squirmed under the covers and pulled them up over his head, making loud, fake snoring sounds. Seto almost, almost, smiled.